Friday Women Rwanda Vs Brazil

Saturday Men Rwanda Vs Germany

The national women’s beach volleyball team face Brazil Friday in their opening match at the 2019 Beach Volleyball World championships.

The tournament will run through July 7 in Germany’s city of Hamburg.

Unranked Rwanda’s pair of Charlotte Nzayisenga and Judith Hakizimana will have a mountain to climb against the star duo of Ana Patricia Silva Ramos and Rebecca Cavalcanti Barbosa Silva who are ranked third in the world.

Besides Brazil, Nzayisenga and Hakizimana have Germany and Spain as the other two Group D opponents.

After the ladies opener on Friday, it will be a turn for their counterparts Olivier Ntagengwa and Patrick Kavalo Patrick who take on Germany duo of Julius Thole and Clemens Wickler on Saturday. The latter are ranked 13th in the world.

Ntagengwa and Akumuntu who lie in the 367th position in the latest FIVB rankings, are in Group L along with Germany, the United States and Iran.

The top two teams from each of the 12 groups will automatically advance to the knock-outs, with the four best third-placed teams also joining them.

The eight remaining third-placed teams will play-off in a ‘lucky loser’ round to determine the final four spots in the Round of 32.

edior@newtimesrwanda.com